"Every time you spend money, you're casting a vote for the kind of world you want."

Tag: Sustainable

IWD is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. It’s also a day to do what you can to truly make a positive difference for women. Here is my final blog post in my IWD series with my #pressforprogress.

VOLUME 3

As mentioned in my previous post, last year on IWD I made a #beboldforchange pledge to buy from women owned businesses and companies that support women.

This post was supposed to be Volume 3 (coming up on Thursday)… but seeing as Lauren Laverne’s focusing her Radio 6 show this week on women in music for International Women’s Day (IWD), I thought I’d get in early before she steals my IWD Playlist thunder.

VOLUME 2

The Brits, Oscars, Golden Globes, BAFTA’s – they’re all full of the #metoo and #timesup campaigns. Not just because of sexual harassment but because of misrepresentation, lack of opportunity and lack of recognition.

Unsurprisingly these figures mirror most industries, which is just shocking considering half of the world’s population is female. Undoubtedly the showbiz industry get’s a lot of media coverage on the feminism topic and whilst sometimes this is frustrating, it has started opening up conversations in ‘normal’ workplaces.

Just like my last post where I declared my support of women owned businesses and companies that support women, in this post I will show my support for women in music, books and TV/film.

IWD Playlist

Found here on Spotify – go on give it a listen! 1 hour 15 minutes of pure #girlpower.

Animal: The Autobiography of a Female Body – Sara Pascoe – A combination of Sara’s autobiography and evolutionary science facts, resulting in a very a funny insight into the way modern women work both mentally and physically. A one I’d recommend men reading more than women, you might just learn something lads!

How to Build a Girl – Caitlin Moran – An insecure teenage girl growing up in the 90’s. Very unoriginal I hear you say? Not likely. Caitlin Moran is ridiculously funny and puts a great spin on the trials and tribulations of growing up, being poor, being a woman and finding one’s identity as a person.

She’s Gotta Have It – Netflix – A remake of the 80’s Spike Lee film. Nola Darling, lives in Brooklyn juggling three boyfriends, a job, her art and her friends. The soundtrack is top.

Young & Promising – 4od – Or Unge Lovende as it is called in Norway where the third series has just come out. I’m currently waiting patiently for it to arrive on 4od. It’s kind of a Scandinavian version of Sex and the City, but more real and with beer not Cosmo’s.

Ladybird – out now – Written and directed by Greta Gerwig (a woman!) about a troubled teenage girl with a controlling mother. I’ve not yet seen it, but a trip to the pictures is on the cards this weekend. It’s meant to be hilarious.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban – Purely for when Hermione punches Draco.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 – Not even ashamed, purely for the scene where Mrs Weasley and Bellatrix are duelling.

Enjoy!

P.s You can’t get rid of me this week, I’ll be back on Thursday with my #pressforprogress. In the meantime, head over to the International Women’s Day website to make your own pledge!

On Thursday 8th March it is International Women’s Day (IWD) and tomorrow is the March 4 Women in London. As I can no longer make the March (cheers Beast from the East…) I’ve decided to pay homage through a series of blog posts.

VOLUME 1

Last year on IWD I made a #beboldforchange pledge to buy from women owned businesses and companies that support women. And over the year, I did just that. Here are three of my favourites:

Brought to my attention by my good friend Chloe, Everything Sweet Threads is a couple owned business inspired through attending the Women’s March in 2017 and wanting to give their daughter exactly the same opportunities as if she had been a son. They sell stupidly cool t-shirts for adults, children and babies. They are printed in Manchester and 10% from every sale goes to the Pankhurst Trust and Manchester Women’s Aid, I just couldn’t resist getting myself one!

I’m sure by now you’ve all heard about menstrual cups. They’re the new fad, and so they should be for many many reasons. They’re better for the environment, better for your health and much more convenient. Mooncup are one of the more popular menstrual cup companies and also where I purchased mine. They are owned by women, used by women and support many charities such as ‘Mobilise a Midwife’ helping midwives to reach mothers in Uganda, ‘Rowley Project’ supplying Mooncup’s to young women in Kenya and as a business they do annual beach cleans.

Finally, Jyoti Fair Works who are an absolute favourite of mine! I’ve mentioned them on the blog before, they are a German-Indian fair fashion label that employs socially disadvantaged women as seamstresses in Chittapur, South India. Jyoti are a non-profit enterprise, meaning 100% of their profit goes back into their workshop in India providing the women permanent employment, opportunities for training, health checks, and a fair salary.

Do you have a favourite women ran / supporting business? How will you be celebrating International Women’s Day?

MEMO for those of you that may have forgotten; Mother’s Day is just two weeks away.

Here are some ideas on what to get those important women (Mam, Auntie, Gran, Mum, Grandma, Mommy, Mother, Sister, Neighbour, Great Aunt… whoever it is) in your life.

How about a candle from the Recycled Candle Company – Made from 100% recycled wax that’s collected from hotels, restaurants, churches and the public.

Or a piece of jewellery from GingerHaze – Handcrafted silver jewellery made in Birmingham by my friend Krissie. She makes beautiful unique pieces from recycled silver and gems she has collected on her travels.

Finally chocolate from Chocolarder – Who source their beans directly from the farmer, making sure the quality is good and that the money they pay is going to those who do the real work.

On 4th September I will be boarding a plane to Beijing with a backpack to explore Asia and beyond… here’s my planned travel route so far…

Moving forward this blog may take a different turn, but there will always be an ethical, sustainable and environmental focus.

In the lead up to going away I’ll be filling you in on my planning and what ethical things I will be taking with me. As always I’m stupidly organised and have a long list (colour co-ordinated spreadsheet) of essentials that I will need. Ranging from a travel mirror, to a cap, to a collapsable cup, to shorts, to shoes, to solid shampoo…

Then when I am on my travels I’ll keep you informed on all the cool places I visit, amazing foods I try and new people I will meet. I’ll report on what I find in each place, whether it be lots of plastic rubbish on an idyllic beach, or visiting factory workers that make garments that are bought in the UK, or the air quality in the cities.

I am stupidly excited for this adventure. It’s something I have always wanted to do, and I am extremely lucky to have a boyfriend that wants to go with me and a family that supports my decision. I’m unsure how long I’ll be gone for, and of course I will miss everyone massively.

But life is for living, you only get one of them, so make it the best it can be!

And on that note, it is Friday evening, I’m off to the pub to celebrate the weekend. Hope it’s a good one and I look forward to sharing my adventures with you all.

This weekend I haven’t moved very far from the couch, had a very VERY lazy one. So for my blog post this week I thought I’d continue with the laziness and just share with you (from my couch) my thoughts on five things that are on my radar.

Ecosia – My new search engine. A couple of weeks ago I switched from Google to Ecosia. Basically, every time you search, the search ads that pop up generates an income, with that income Ecosia plant trees. In just a couple of weeks my searches have planted 76 trees… and I didn’t even have to get off the couch!

Jamestown – Started Saturday lunchtime, already 7 episodes deep. In a nutshell, English settlers in America around 1600 (little bit Pocahontaseqsue), for years there were just men in the colony, then along come women. The series is about the issues facing these women. Rape, witch accusations and general frustrating and cruel sexism. The main characters are brilliant, strong willed and intelligent. Definitely worth a watch. #girlpower

Valentine’s day – Just around the corner. Please please please don’t buy your other half something they will never use, that will end up in the bin, that they don’t really want. Why not do something together? Or get them something they really need? Or, like me, just ignore the day and focus on the pancakes you will be eating instead?

Plastic – Such a hot topic at the moment. Every where I look; the news, facebook, TV, there are photos and stories around plastic pollution. Big companies are finally starting to put strategies in place to reduce their packaging which is great and well overdue, but photos like this still haunt me. Be conscious of what you’re buying. Is that carrier really necessary?

Derry Girls – Absolutely hilarious Channel 4 comedy series set in the 90’s about a group of teenage girls in Northern Ireland. I won’t say any more. Just watch it!

Right, blog post done, time to get back to Jamestown and chilling on the couch.

Shaving for me is like trying to get the last bit of ketchup out of a bottle, it’s like temperature control in an office (too hot, too cold, never right), it’s like finding somewhere you really want to eat but realising they don’t accept card and the closest cash machine is a 10 minute walk away… basically shaving for me is an annoyance.

But I have now found a ‘Shaviour’. Something that makes shaving a little less annoying.

Friction Free Shaving (FFS) is the first razor delivery service designed exclusively for women. Basically you sign up and they send you a cool metal handle (less plastic!!) and fresh blades every month.

If like me you keep your razor forever and ever, rarely remembering to change it, you’re probably wondering why you get fresh blades every month. What I hadn’t even considered was how unhygienic it was using the same blade over and over again, bacteria and all sorts of minging bits builds up in them. The concept of FFS is that they send out four blades a month, one for every week. That way you’re shaving your legs with bacteria and gunk free blades, resulting in a friction free shave. Voila!

I went for the Rose razor package. The handle comes free (or £5 if you want it engraved like mine) and for £9 a month I get four blades delivered. The blades are great value for money, for example if you compare quality like for like, a four-pack of Gillette blades costs £12.99. If you don’t need any more blades you can stop your subscription at any time, or swap your blade delivery for some of their shave scrubs, creams or balms.

If this sounds up your street and you fancy giving FFS a go, use this code to get 25% off your first order 5XGF71.